Sabathia pitched eight superb innings of four-hit ball to win his second straight postseason start and New York took advantage of a sloppy night by the Angels.

The Angels made three errors that led to two unearned runs and allowing an infield popup to drop untouched for an RBI single. Even Torii Hunter allowed a single to roll past him.

New York built a 2-0 lead in the with a throwing error by Juan Rivera and a popup by Hideki Matsui that fell between Chone Figgins and Erick Aybar.

Matsui doubled in a run in the fifth to make it 3-1. Lackey’s throwing error on a pickoff attempt allowed Melky Cabrera to take second in the sixth, and Derek Jeter followed with a run-scoring single that got by Hunter.

Sabathia gave up a double and three singles, struck out seven and walked one, going to three-balls count just twice.

Mariano Rivera pitched a hitless ninth for his record 36th postseason save, his second this year. Rivera walked Hunter, but struck out Guerrero, got Rivera to fly out, then

A.J. Burnett is slated to start Game 2 for the Yankees, only if the game is still on.

There was a disputed call, with first base umpire Laz Diaz ruling Hunter out on his sixth-inning bunt. Angels manager Mike Scioscia argued that first baseman Mark Teixeira’s foot came off the bag when he stretched for the throw – Tex did not let go of first until after he had received the ball.

The rain is scheduled to hit the state of New York all day tomorrow and could push game two to Sunday, forcing the players to fly overnight to Los Angeles for an evening game on Monday. For now, the Yankees can go to bed with game number one in their belts.